Government Asks To Clarify Ship and Container Charter Rates Sudden Increase

Sea freight rates increased, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung directed to remove difficulties for businesses and handle illegal price increases.

According to the Government Office, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung has directed the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Transport to coordinate with agencies to remove difficulties in freight rates for export activities. He also requested to inspect, clarify and strictly handle the acts of increasing charter rates for ships and containers.

According to the export enterprises, in the past 3 months, the container rental price has increased 2-10 times. At a meeting on January 12, a representative of the Vietnam Plastics Association said that the increase in freight rates many times made businesses reduce export sales, the current inventory compared to last year is up to 50 times. %. In particular, there are businesses that have announced their closure because sea freight rates are too high.

Meanwhile, shipping lines argued that because of the impact of Covid-19, the release of goods and the turnaround of empty containers were prolonged. The volume of goods exported to Europe and the US has also recently increased dramatically, leading to a shortage of empty containers for packing. Some ship owners also emphasized that the number of trips from Vietnam has not been reduced or even increased, but due to a serious shortage of containers, it has led to a situation of container prices. Shipping lines also assessed that the shortage of empty containers could last until the end of March, even the end of the second quarter of 2021 if Covid-19 has not ended.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, due to the impact of Covid-19, the cargo handling capacity at European and North American ports decreased, leading to the shipping lines having to cut routes, causing shortages of trips and empty containers. The epidemic also caused production capacity in regions such as Latin America, Eastern Europe, and South Asia to decrease, and the US and Europe increased imports from East Asia, including China and Vietnam. Two synergistic factors have pushed up container rental prices.

On the other hand, the capacity of Vietnamese enterprises to receive and manage empty containers is still limited, there is no large enough empty container depot, and the depots are small and scattered and cannot meet demand. export packing. Vietnam has very few businesses in the business of building and repairing containers, especially specialized containers, so they have to depend on the volume of containers of foreign shipping lines.

[SOURCE: vnexpress]